Chapter 142 – Battle

After waiting for the demons to calm back down and lower their guard, the ships went right back to the marching armies.

"How are the targets, Dream?"

The Emperor came over to him and asked. Dream nodded.

"They're staying spread out besides a few groups of two or three. Everyone should be able to see them."

"Indeed...It looks like we'll be able to handle this rather easily."

"We can attack multiple singles at once with two or three of our own, but we have to make sure the battles don't take long. Everyone has at most 10 seconds before they respond and group up. You need to kill them and get out before then. That means prepare your best spells or skills with your partners beforehand."

Everyone in the 3 ships nodded, listening through their bracelets. The Emperor agreed.

"Coordination will be key. Luckily we have you, Dream. Otherwise we would be facing all these demon Counts as they invaded the Empire. I'm glad I don't have to imagine such a day."

"Well this is still only a fraction of what they have across the three continents. We can't relax yet. Now, is everyone ready?"

"I think we are."

"Then we're going to be dropping soon. I'll assign targets and we'll send out your groups in a stagger. Now, coordinate with your groups. Prepare to strike."

When he said that, everyone had a target highlighted in their vision. And going to their groups, everyone began to coordinate attacks and skills.

These preparations though caused intense mana fluctuations. Although they were mostly hidden by Dream's ships, the more powerful demons down below were still able to sense something.

A few minutes later, all the groups had readied up. Dream nodded and opened the hatches of the ships.

"Everyone has their targets. Group 1, prepare to strike."

On his word, the first group walked to the edge of the hatch. There were three people like in every other group, and most of the groups consisted of a mage and two fighters. 

"On my mark. 3...2...1...Strike!"

*Woosh!*

At their highest speeds, the first group flew out in a beeline straight for their target. And not more than a second after, they clashed with their demon Count.

*Boom!*

"Group two! Strike now!"

*Woosh!*

"Group three!"

*Woosh!*

"Group four!"

Deam called out all the groups one after the other. And as per previously discussed, the ranged class 4's supported the ones fighting close up.

Since he was sending them in a stagger, the Grand Demons were thrown off and stayed put, wondering if they were going to be charged next. They watched as one group of class 4's appeared out of nowhere and struck down with premeditated precision and power. 

"Our target is dead!"

After several seconds of chaos and when he had sent out the last group, the first group reported to him.

"Good. Join with Group 11!"

"This demon is grouping up!"

"We've killed our demon!"

"Group 4, move to Group 8 and support."

"We've killed ours!"

"Group 3, move to group 7."

"Ours is grouping!"

"Group 9, let your target go and support group 12."

....

As the fight went on a bit longer, problems starting popping up here and there. Luckily Dream wasn't afraid of improvising and began sending out orders while watching from above.

His mind and perception accelerated, allowing him to scan everything and make the best decisions. It almost felt like a game, and his gaming sense did indeed kick in. He took in everything at once and began guiding the flow of the battles, aiming for the best victory. In fact, his mind ran so quickly that he didn't even open his mouth, sending out multiple orders at once.

And since they were in the midst of an enemy army, each of the class 4's didn't wish to doubt their overseer and just followed his blips and directions on their vision. Some groups were told to let their targets go, some went to support others, some groups were assigned a fresh target. Many different decisions were made, and while it confused many of them, luckily they all still followed.

"Target dead!"

"Demon dead!"

"Ours too!"

"Groups, 2, 3, and 7, go support 5."

"Just killed our demon!"

"Group 6, join up with 8, 1, 4, and 11."

"Demon dead!"

"Group 9, 10, and 12, joining with Group 11"

Eventually, Dream began pushing everyone together and helped finish off targets. And when the last few targets had been killed, Dream gave the last order.

"Targets dead. Bring it back."

With that, all the class 4's retreated and flew back to the ships. Tons of lower level magic followed from the millions of demons around them, but that was easily blocked.

And once everyone had boarded, the ships closed up and flew off in the distance.

.......

After arriving at the Empire, everyone made their way for a large hall where they took a seat and relaxed. Healers were also called to help those who had sustained some small injuries.

The Emperor walked over to Dream.

"Many are a bit tired. Such a hard and sudden strike took a lot of energy. Luckily it wasn't for nothing. How many did we kill?"

"Out of the original 38 demons, we were able to kill 14. This leaves us with 24 more to kill."

"We killed that many?"

"Yup. Though the only reason we were able to was because everyone listened to my directions. So while we had to let go of some demons, I was able to guide some groups to new targets."

"I saw that. By the end, we were in two big groups. I must say, for you to guide everyone like that takes great coordination and strategic skills."

"I've had those skills honed since I was little. Managing troops is rather intuitive for me now."

Dream smiled as he recalled all the games he used to play. He was a big fan of all kinds of genres, but RTS games were one of his top favorites. They required much more concentration and tactical skills than doing something like managing 12 groups of people, so this was rather simple for him to do. Of course, that was only because everyone listened to his directions. 

The Emperor thought he was speaking in a military sense though. They obviously didn't have games here where even children could develop their problem solving skills and intuition. 

"You must've been taught well. Managing 12 groups on an individual level, especially with how fast paced it was and with such power levels isn't easy."

"I'm glad everyone trusted me. Unfortunately, our attack put the demons on high alert. All the Counts are grouped up, not separating from each other."

"Makes sense, but we have greater numbers than them now by nearly 50%. Unless they receive reinforcements, there's nothing that will stop us from killing them."

"Agreed. But we have to be careful either way. If we attack all at once, the battle will be drawn out which will give them more time to coordinate. So sure we might be able to kill them all, but we have to make sure they don't take some of us with them."

"...I guess you're right. But how should we go about doing that?"

"Spread them out. Though that's easier said than done. But if we can make it so that they can't band together for surprise attacks, then we'll be safe to slowly kill them and keep a smooth battle flow."

"That sounds like the best plan. But maybe we can give it some time too. Maybe tomorrow they won't be so alerted."

"Maybe. Waiting is no problem, but prepare for the worst."

"Of course. Let's discuss it will the others."

Saying that, Dream and the Emperor held a meeting on the spot as everyone recovered their energy.

........

....

Three days later, the same 35 people boarded the same ships. 

Having discussed the plans with everyone, nobody was in the dark and they all went into this battle mentally prepared.

Unfortunately, the demons never did ungroup and all 24 of them were still clustered. This meant that they would be fighting a group battle, and things would be much more unpredictable than last time. And while none of them had discussed it explicitly, they were all worried about possible deaths.

Dream especially. He was very aware of how dangerously cunning the demons could be in battle. But for him, the only people he was worried about were Riddick, Idona, and Ciroc who were participating. 

Idona was probably his least worried about person though since she was ranged. She would be either supporting everyone from far away or fighting other ranged enemies. It was Riddick and Ciroc who would be fighting up close that he was worried about. But luckily, Dream had made Riddick his suit, which according to him, was extremely useful. 

As for Dream, he wouldn't be participating directly. As he had seen in the previous battles, their level was still too high for him. While he could survive getting hit, he would need to make preparations if he were going to be trying to kill anyone. So for him, observation and guidance was his job.

After boarding the ships, Dream brought them all to the still advancing army. Right now, the army was about a week away from the Empire.

"Alright. Everyone has their targets and groups. Remember, we need to separate them from each other. We can't get caught in one of their traps."

The Emperor spoke as they hovered above the army. Everyone could see the cluster of Grand demons, and Dream had assigned each person or group a demon.

Since there were 24 demons and 35 humans, there would be 11 people who were paired with another or made a ranged support. For this, the Emperor took the weakest of the class 4's and paired them, balancing the power evenly across everyone. 

Not all class 4's were equal in power. This was something Dream still couldn't judge for himself as he hadn't advanced. 

Either way, everyone was prepared to fight. 

"We go together. We strike hard and fast, just like last time. Dream, send us off."

"Alright. On my mark."

Saying that, the hatches to all the ships opened.

"3...2...1...Strike!"

*Woosh!*

Agitating massive amounts of mana, all the 35 class 4's flew out of the ships and straight down to the demons. 

*BOOM*

Explosions of mana were released as everyone collided. Several demons were thrown away, putting distance between them and the group.

After that, the fights begun.

The ranged fighters in the sky flew away so they could have a longer distance to shoot and support. It seemed like many archers worked like Idona where they gained power the farther their target was.

The fighters on the ground though went to work immediately. The melee fighters with swords, axes, and even hammers began clashing with demons who had similar weapons. Mages also began fighting other demon mages, making things predictable between the combatants and therefore safer.

Unfortunately, the demons weren't so easily defeated. While the human side had tried to separate them as much as possible, the demons kept moving around as a group and coming together. Other than at the beginning, the demons were never that far apart. 

This was the first problem that only cascaded to more. The demons knew exactly what their situation was and they had amazing coordination. This is exactly what made them so dangerous. So as Dream watched, he made sure to communicate with the class 4's as much as possible to prevent surprises.

Only the demons were too fast for him to be able to do much. 

Not even 10 minutes into the battle, the demons had done a surprise blitz on an unsuspecting mage. And while everyone had reacted appropriately, it wasn't fast enough to stop the mage from getting injured and having to waste a ton of his mana. And only a few minutes after that, they had done another blitz on a fighter.

This situation was nearly identical to what Dream had to deal with at the battle at the stronghold before he was put into a coma. The class 3 demons had done blitzes just like what these Counts did, except that time, Dream himself was able to manage everything and hold them at bay.

But now, Dream couldn't do anything. At least not personally. What he could do though was try and coordinate his side. So he did.

The first thing he did was guide the archers. The archers had powerful shots, but they didn't shoot fast. So what he had them do was gather power for their arrows and wait for the blitzes where he would then give them targets. By doing this, he would be able to prevent some demons from hitting their target properly. Or at the very least, give them heavy consequences for turning their attention away.

But this still wasn't enough. even after he had enacted this strategy, the problem still remained. In fact, after 25 minutes of battle, the first human fell alongside the first demon.

This death spread a bit of fear into the hearts of these class 4's. While they knew they would win, they were afraid of how many of them would die alongside these demons. Especially the ones who were injured.

Though there was one thing Dream didn't understand. Whenever the demons did a blitz, they wouldn't hit the same target more than twice. They would hit them to weaken or injure them and then move on to another. And for how dire of a situation the demons were in, they should be trying their best to kill, not just injure.

"So why..?"

Dream thought on it for a while, though he couldn't distract himself too much as he had to watch everything closely for the archers.

And to help out as much as he could, Dream also brought out his hybrid rifle. While not as powerful as his other railguns, this rifle was still driven by a reactor on his back and even had flux to amplify the force of the projectile. It was plenty strong by itself, but the best part about it was undoubtedly its accuracy. 

Dream shot out his bullets very specifically alongside the archers, hitting vital spots or areas that would disturb the demons' momentum or balance. Although it wouldn't be enough to kill them in one hit, it was enough to injure them and catch them off guard, giving openings for the humans.

But not long after he began shooting, a change occurred on the battlefield.

"Assassin!"

A fighter spoke as the heads of two fighters near him suddenly went flying. This was now the 2nd and 3rd death while the demons had lost their 5th and 6th. 

Hearing his shout, everyone immediately went on the defensive. This was especially true for those who were already injured and lost energy. 

"So that's why!"

Dream suddenly figured it out. These demons were injuring people to place them on a silver platter. With them injured, it would be an easy kill for the assassins that they had no idea existed.

And as they weren't stupid, the humans also figured this out. But while they went on the defensive, they kept fighting. They had already killed 6 demons and their enemy was getting weaker and weaker. They also had more room to pair up and fight together, so this allowed the ones in good shape to support those who were injured.

But as befitting assassins, they weren't so easily spotted and stopped, especially by distracted enemies. 

Only 15 minutes after their first killing, the pair of assassins came back for more. 

*Shing*

*Clang!*

As they came back around, one assassin was able to directly kill a human while the second one was barely blocked. Dream saw this and pointed the archers at them.

"Get that assassin!"